News Round Up

Monday, March 5th 2001, 7:02AM

Merrill lynch has sold its New Zealand retail broking business to ABN Amro Craigs as part of the company's strategic realignment.

While most of the advisers in Merrill's Auckland and Wellington offices will move to ABN Amro Craigs on April 1, a number have decided to join Credit Suisse First Boston.

The deal will make ABN Amro Craigs one of the biggest broking firms in the country with a total of 75 client advisers working from 12 offices nationwide.

AMP plunges into online financial services

AMP is due to launch a new online financial services shop on March 8.

The name of the site is being kept a closely guarded secret until launch date. However, there are 19 firms involved in the venture including fund managers, sharebrokers, mortgage brokers and insurance companies.

New index fund
The success of Bank of New Zealand's Capital Protected Index Investment last year has encouraged the company to launch another one.

The earlier, which raised about $35 million, was a bank deposit and its return tarcked the S&P 500 but had a capital guarantee.

BNZ's latest CPII offers returns linked to two major European indices the FTSE100 and the Eurostoxx 50.